These typically involve isolating a particular joint and leveraging it in an attempt to force the joint to move past its normal range of motion. Joint locks usually involve varying degrees of pain in the joints and, if applied forcefully and/or suddenly, may cause injury, such as muscle, tendon and ligament damage and even dislocation or bone fracture.

In judo, the combining of standing locks with throws are forbidden due to the risk of physical harm to the falling opponent, while jujutsu, taijutsu, aikido and hapkido allow their use.

Joint locks can be divided into five general types according to which section of the body they affect: